Neutrinos and supernova theory

Neutrinos are the primary agents in core-collapse supernova explosions and their signature in underground terrestrial detectors should bear the stamp of the events that launched the explosion and gave birth to either a neutron star or a black hole. In this paper, we outline the neutrino burst, discuss some suggestive systematics with progenitor mass, review the evidence for asymmetries in supernova explosions, and speculate about pulsar kicks. Moreover, we summarize new calculations concerning inelastic neutrino-nucleon scattering and nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung. The latter processes are important to the emergent nu(mu) neutrino spectra and incorporate some sweet physics that Dave Schramm would no doubt have loved to explore. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.